Post-Match Reaction: SAINTS 1-1 Sunderland

[captainchris]

keep selling your quality and the whole thing erodes. It is impossible to keep replacing the best players.

 

Really don't think that is the main problem.

Koeman with randome radical tactical errors and poor team selection is murdering us

[Pamplemousse]

Let's be honest, Koeman had little choice but to play Pelle and Mané.

 

Hopefully Long will start at Stoke and Pelle and Mané are both sold in the summer. Both have had plenty of chances and they have failed to deliver. Their time at this football club is over.

[Saint Charlie]

We just dont have any consistent quality attacking players they are good but not outstanding

 

So top 10 side is OK by me

I agree. But a week ago we were well in with a shout of 5th/6th and then have produced two of the poorest displays of the season, which is a shame.

 

We don't seem to deal well with pressure situations and are happier being an also ran or underdog.

[LuckyNumber7]

Well I was at the game and thought Pelle was one of our better players, not that that's saying much. Generally held the ball up pretty well and brought others into play but never looked like scoring himself. Romeu and Bertrand were decent too, VVD motm, the rest meh.

 

Awful ref again, looked like Fonte got the ball to me but will have to see a replay, but apart from that he made so many poor decisions it was almost comical.

 

Shame that yet again the season seems to be fizzling out. We seriously need to work on our attacking midfield options in the summer, it's all far too slow and ponderous. Need someone with a bit of drive who can carry the ball forward. AOC or Wijnaldum would be nice!

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Really don't think that is the main problem.

Koeman with randome radical tactical errors and poor team selection is murdering us

 

Totally agree. We've gone back to exactly how we were before Forster made his comeback. We lack any kind of creative flair.

[Jack]

Season over, shame. Lack of movement up top is costing us, not helped when the ball isn't sticking when a pass finally found Tadic, Pelle, Mane.

 

Clasie my MOTM. He at least looks forward at the first opportunity and gets us moving up the pitch.

 

Ref isn't the reason we didn't win, but that's 3 games on the bounce I think we've been harshly treated. Early bookings were a joke.

[Wes Tender]

This is a match where we needed strikers with confidence who know how to put a ball away. Players like Defoe, who you just knew would score against us, but Long and Austin for us. Instead with them both absent, we have Pelle and Mane both out of sorts. Pelle didn't have a bad game on the whole, but it was the worst performance I have seen from Mane, whose value must have plummeted still further. He didn't contest the 50/50 balls which he used to use his speed to get to first, he didn't offer any outlet from defence by clever runs into space, he hardly ever ran into the box with the ball at his feet, he was just a passenger for virtually the entire game. I wouldn't be upset to see him leave, but we aren't going to get much for him at this rate.

 

Again I wonder at the tactical nous of Koeman taking off both of the gutsy midfielders Davis and Clasie together. OK, Ward-Prowse has been putting himself about recently, but it still left us a bit short. Romeu had another decent showing and Martina was OK at right back, although one wondered whether Cedric would have given more in terms of width and better crossing into the box.

 

Sunderland played like a typical Big Fat Sam team away, 10 players behind the ball mostly, slow play down, go down at every opportunity to get free kicks and cards awarded to the opposition, whilst simultaneously disrupting play. Happily for them, they had a really poor referee who was easily conned by their antics. We might even have been better off had Friend been able to referee and that really is saying something.

 

We never looked like scoring, but thank God for V.V-D, who just gets better and better and had a few opportunities to score from set-pieces as well as the well taken goal which saved us a point that we deserved, but frankly we didn't deserve all three on that performance.

 

One can't help but feel that having secured our place in the PL for another season, the players just aren't motivated enough to climb the table into the Europe places any longer. 1 point from the last nine is diabolical when we have played Bournemouth and Sunderland the last two matches.

 

So now we have Stoke away with no Fonte and unless they buck their ideas up, our poor run of form will continue. Long back soon would be nice, and seeing Rodriguez before the end of the season would also be a bonus. He might just want to prove a point more than Pelle and Mane do at the moment.

[Saint Charlie]

Let's be honest, Koeman had little choice but to play Pelle and Mané.

 

Hopefully Long will start at Stoke and Pelle and Mané are both sold in the summer. Both have had plenty of chances and they have failed to deliver. Their time at this football club is over.

Ridiculous.

 

Pelle will leave in the summer, its common knowledge.

 

But dismissing Mane like that is absurd. He is going through a poor spell but is still an excellent player and our best attacker.

 

Why not keep him and benefit when his form and confidence inevitably returns?

[doddisalegend]

Both of those points are wrong.

 

We were poor.

 

Martina was poor.

 

 

No both his points were spot on we were by far the better team let down by turd finishing as we have been for large parts of the season. Martina was not nearly as poor as people are making put and was much better in the second half when he started getting forward.

[Saint Charlie]

Clasie my MOTM. He at least looks forward at the first opportunity and gets us moving up the pitch.

 

Clasie has been good lately but was off the pace today IMO and didnt really make any significant forward passes.

 

Nowhere near our MOTM for me.

[doddisalegend]

Ridiculous.

 

Pelle will leave in the summer, its common knowledge.

 

But dismissing Mane like that is absurd. He is going through a poor spell but is still an excellent player and our best attacker.

 

Why not keep him and benefit when his form and confidence inevitably returns?

 

 

No shane long is our best attacker ....

[Shance]

Ridiculous.

 

Pelle will leave in the summer, its common knowledge.

 

But dismissing Mane like that is absurd. He is going through a poor spell but is still an excellent player and our best attacker.

 

Why not keep him and benefit when his form and confidence inevitably returns?

 

I'm starting to think that he is an average player that had a purple patch now. He's been poor for months now and previous to his good form he was very poor (although I gave him the benefit of the doubt at the time because he was settling in).

[Saint Charlie]

Interesting that each time we have had a two week break in the season (for Intls or FA Cup) it has dampened the momentum we had built up leading into the break.

 

Has happened three times this season, which is probably coincidence but is quite frustrating because our variances in quality this season have been quite significant.

Edited 5 March, 2016 by Saint Charlie

[Yarm Saint]

That was painful to watch. Martina should be nowhere near a football pitch.

[Chez]

Yet again Juanmi comes on and fails to impress. I know it's tough to get up to speed in games, but He's so lightweight, easily brushed off the ball and just doesn't grab the game in any way at all. Remind me how much we spent on him? He's young and foreign players need time to settle, but bloody hell he is going to have become a totally different player next season if he is going to succeed here.

[badgerx16]

After the previous 2 games I decided to go for a walk rather than risk watching a repeat if the drivel served up against Bompey. Based on the comments here and on the match thread, I was indeed better off getting rained on in a chilly easterly wind !

[Give it to Ron]

Really don't think that is the main problem.

Koeman with randome radical tactical errors and poor team selection is murdering us

 

He got the sub right didn't he or are you so anti Koeman you can't see that? Left on a creative and took off player not scored since October.

How was it wrong team selection today!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Saint Charlie]

No both his points were spot on we were by far the better team let down by turd finishing as we have been for large parts of the season. Martina was not nearly as poor as people are making put and was much better in the second half when he started getting forward.

Martina was in no way MOTM.

 

Every time he got in a good position he gave the ball away.

 

He also made a couple of horrendous passes inside his own area.

 

If thats a good performance, or MOTM material then you must be mad.

 

(We also didnt create enough to be let down by turd finishing).

Edited 5 March, 2016 by Saint Charlie

[redder freak]

Great goal. Hopefully we can build on that spirit.

[CB Fry]

keep selling your quality and the whole thing erodes. It is impossible to keep replacing the best players.

 

This time two years ago, after 29 matches, before this howwible howwible erosion started, we were 9th. But with a whole point more than we have now. A whole point. The erosion, oh the erosion, has been chronic since then, it really has been. We'll never be ninth after 29 games again, that's for sure. Such erosion. Such terrible, terrible erosion.

[Saint_Ash]

VvD was motm by a country mile. Won pretty much everything in the air and dragged us kicking and screaming to a point. Romeu was good as well, his long range vision is excellent and he battled well in midfield. As a team we were pretty poor in the attacking 3rd today, needed long. Martina wasn't as bad as some people who were watching from their sofas were suggesting but we could've done with Cedric on the pitch.

[Wes Tender]

This time two years ago, after 29 matches, before this howwible howwible erosion started, we were 9th. But with a whole point more than we have now. A whole point. The erosion, oh the erosion, has been chronic since then, it really has been. We'll never be ninth after 29 games again, that's for sure. Such erosion. Such terrible, terrible erosion.

:lol:

[ErwinK1961]

Ridiculous.

 

Pelle will leave in the summer, its common knowledge.

 

But dismissing Mane like that is absurd. He is going through a poor spell but is still an excellent player and our best attacker.

 

Why not keep him and benefit when his form and confidence inevitably returns?

 

No chance is he our best attacker, absolutely no end product. You don't go this length of time without effecting a game if you're that good. The thought of him moving to someone like Utd is laughable.

 

Agree with Shance, starting to look like an average player who hit a purple patch.

[Saint Charlie]

No chance is he our best attacker, absolutely no end product. You don't go this length of time without effecting a game if you're that good. The thought of him moving to someone like Utd is laughable.

 

Agree with Shance, starting to look like an average player who hit a purple patch.

Who in our attack is ultimately a better player than Mane?

 

Long is currently playing better than him, of course, but pretty sure any club if they could sign one attacker from us would pick Mane, who is capable of levels Long cannot reach.

[shurlock]

VvD was motm by a country mile. Won pretty much everything in the air and dragged us kicking and screaming to a point. Romeu was good as well, his long range vision is excellent and he battled well in midfield. As a team we were pretty poor in the attacking 3rd today, needed long. Martina wasn't as bad as some people who were watching from their sofas were suggesting but we could've done with Cedric on the pitch.

 

He was v. good, though he's still rough around the edges positionally. While Yoshida shoulders the majorityof the responsibility for Sunderlands's goal, VVD could have also done better. Was too aggressive coming to the ball and didn't show the defender onto the wrong side.

[Sour Mash]

Fairly s**t game, it happens, annoying, but not really worth too much fuss.

 

We're about the 9/10th best team in the league and that's probably where we'll finish. No great shame in that.

[70's Mike]

every game against fat sam is like that

[doddisalegend]

Really don't think that is the main problem.

Koeman with randome radical tactical errors and poor team selection is murdering us

 

What team did you want him to put out today? I don't think we could have done much different with our current injuries and suspensions

[The Cat]

That goal was a big **** you to all the ****s who left on 84 minutes when they scored.

 

It's tough playing with a front 3 who are out of sorts but there were sporadic signs that they were playing themselves back into some kind of form. Pelle held the ball up better and sacked off the stupid flicks. Mane was more lively than in recent games and Tadic picked out some decent passes. Credit to the team for grinding out a point when behind and down to 10 men.

 

Bertrand had a great first half, Van Dijk was his normal classy self and Romeu had a solid game. Unfortunately Claise never got into the match at all and Davis was reasonably anonymous. We'll have to up our level against Stoke somewhat if we are to gain anything out of that match.

[Mr Biscuits]

We shouldn't be losing or drawing to teams like Sunderland.

 

More work required from the whole squad.

[The Cat]

Also fair play to most of the kids with the clackers for realising they are ****e and binning them off.

[Toomer]

In the first half if we had an in form stricker up front we may have gone in at half time two up, to many not at the races today.

[bpsaint]

Seems like a lot of our fans assumed we just had to turn up today to get 3 points, but Sunderland have been a tough nut for a few teams lately so was never going to be easy.

 

Whilst Pelle wasn't great today he was woefully isolated at times, he needed a foil to win headers for or get on the end of his flicks. Ref was atrocious once again, no arguments with the red but most of his other decisions were baffling, was it a penalty for us in the first half? Looked like a clear handball from the Northam.

[doddisalegend]

We shouldn't be losing or drawing to teams like Sunderland.

 

More work required from the whole squad.

 

What a crock. There are no easy PL teams that's why people all around the world like watching the PL because games are general tough and close. It's no wonder half of SMS spends the whole game moaning and groaning when people just expect to rock up and win games easily. Sunderland are fighting for their PL life and were never going to be a push over. Yet we fought back from a goal down with ten men to salvage a point people should be happy with that.

[Batman]

Koeman reactions to draw -

 

before the game, 1 point would not have been good. would not be happy.

at the end of the game, I am happy. 1-0 down and 10 men...that last 5 mins was our best football of the game

we struggled first 85 mins

it was not our level

they were well organised and strong

we needed extra quality

they never made it open

they need points

we have to be sharp

we know defoe is good to score with 1 moment and he showed it

Jose was a little unlucky, it was a fight but can see why it was given

happy with character of the side after the sending off

it was a great goal we scored, good attack and finish

why it took with 1 player less, I just dont know. That lies with the players

some players did not reach their level

last 5 mins show we still have belief to keep going

today we struggled, too many player far away from their normal level

was a great goal and good movement from tadic and ryan

the finish was fantastic

we expect that sort of football from the start

the point is good to take forward to the n ext game

we still fight for europe

may be a point that gets us europe

[LGTL]

Yoshida is a disgrace and should be nowhere near our first team. The bellend.

[gammoncheeks]

We shouldn't be losing or drawing to teams like Sunderland.

 

More work required from the whole squad.

Lets be honest anyone can beat anyone in this mad premier league this season .

[Master Bates]

Very poor over the last two games, no real passion for the badge.

 

Not liking the tinkering with the starting line-up either, need continuity, I know some changes can't be helped.

 

Looking forward to 3pts against Stoke.

[Mr Biscuits]

What a crock. There are no easy PL teams that's why people all around the world like watching the PL because games are general tough and close. It's no wonder half of SMS spends the whole game moaning and groaning when people just expect to rock up and win games easily. Sunderland are fighting for their PL life and were never going to be a push over. Yet we fought back from a goal down with ten men to salvage a point people should be happy with that.

 

Bull.

 

If we had come up against them during that run we managed to put together before the enforced break we'd all be sitting here discussing a three goal win minimum.

 

Instead of which we scraped a draw against a team in the relegation zone.

 

Koeman himself said it- we are better than what you saw on the pitch today. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it - this squad is a capable of a far, far better performance than what we saw.and against a team like Sunderland we should be winning comfortably, despite the improvements fat Sam has made.

 

It's great that a point was salvaged however the performance was (yet again) not good enough.

 

And in fact, you only need to see Koeman's post match interview to see this.

[Batman]

Bull.

 

If we had come up against them during that run we managed to put together before the enforced break we'd all be sitting here discussing a three goal win minimum.

 

Instead of which we scraped a draw against a team in the relegation zone.

 

Koeman himself said it- we are better than what you saw on the pitch today. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it - this squad is a capable of a far, far better performance than what we saw.and against a team like Sunderland we should be winning comfortably, despite the improvements fat Sam has made.

 

It's great that a point was salvaged however the performance was (yet again) not good enough.

 

koeman made a point in saying he would not have been happy with 1 point before the game and he said (about 5 times) that many players were not good enough today

[Berkshire Saint]

Don't think we were as bad as some are making out. Typical Allardyce side away display really.

 

Front three are all out of form and lacking confidence but they were trying things and didn't hide from the ball.

 

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[Wes Tender]

Mane was more lively than in recent games

 

Really? Are you sure you weren't mistaking him for Martina? Mane was abysmal and didn't seem interested at all, didn't tackle much, didn't show much movement to offer options for passing, didn't run much with the ball at his feet. But apart from that, he was more lively than in recent matches, where he had also been pretty useless. It really is difficult to imagine where his next goal is going to come from. The fastest hat-trick in Premier League history seems a distant memory and hard to believe that he was capable of that and seems so off colour now.

[Mr Biscuits]

koeman made a point in saying he would not have been happy with 1 point before the game and he said (about 5 times) that many players were not good enough today

 

Exactly my argument - we shouldn't be struggling against teams in the relegation zone.

[Mr Dad]

Forster - Made a couple of decent saves, could do little about the goal

 

Martina - Rubbish in both directions

Fonte - Had no choice but to attempt a challenge when he got sent off as the striker was through and Fonte didn't have the pace to catch him

VVD - Good, bailed us out at the end with a decisive finish our front three can seemingly only dream of about right now

Bertrand - Best player first half, faded in the second

 

Romeu - Tried hard, but didn't really dominate the midfield. Not that he had much help.

Clasie - Ineffective off the ball, too slow on it.

Davis - Not at the races today.

 

Tadic - Was not that bad first half, useless in the second until the assist at the death though.

Pelle - Very lucky he was the only fit CF today. The fact that such a player is a strong contender get into Italy's euros squad shows how far their attacking depth has fallen.

Mane - Won't be weeping when he leaves in the summer, likely for an entirely inappropriate amount of money.

 

Subs:

 

Juanmi - Ineffective.

JWP - Barely noticed he was on

Yoshida - Managed to produce the piece of comedy defending that gifted them their goal almost instantly.

 

A reasonable assesment. I disagree with a couple of the ratings but its a fair picture.

Now we are 8th in the league and I would expect a better review from a team if we had ambition for finishing higher up the table.

Too many weak links there. It doesn't look good.

At beginning of season I was happy with mid-table finish. We have shown some moments of brilliance. Why can't we keep it up?

[mrfahaji]

I don’t get to many games but I went to this one. Someone used the word ‘insipid’ earlier in the thread and that’s a good description of our performance. Sunderland employ such dreadfully cycnical tactics. We weren’t great but were still the better side. Thoughts on a few individuals:

 

Martina – did ok defensively and even supporting the attack, but his passing is poor. Had a couple of chances to whip a ball across the face of goal and tried to pick out a player instead, unsurprisingly unsuccessful.

 

Van Dijk – Man Mountain again. Fitting that he got the goal. Almost my MOTM.

 

Romeu – MOTM for me. Put himself about till the end, finds a pass and has quick feet. Has a reliable shot on him too. When we went down to 10 men, Romeu and VVD, already two of our best players, really grew in stature and seemed even more determined.

 

Clasie – picks up the second ball well, and capable of passing in tight quarters (did this well with Romeu). My only concern is that I can’t recall him actually winning the ball very much or joining the attack.

 

Mane – a bizarre display. Was playing in front of me in second half and thought he must be injured because he wasn’t running off the ball at all, and seemed totally devoid of any pace. But given that he wasn’t taken off when Clasie & Davis were instead, it leaves me thinking maybe he just wasn’t trying...

 

Tadic – some woeful moments but as infuriating as he may be, his jinking one way and then other nearly always has an end product, and the ball is often decent, as the equaliser verifies.

 

Pelle – was by no means a great performance, but it seems some people in the stadium are against him before he does anything wrong. He improved as the game went on, and had some good touches to help the moves along, including for the goal. My main criticism of Pelle is that he doesn’t follow up for a second phase of play. He’ll challenge for a ball and then stop and walk, instead of closing down the next players or making himself available.

 

Fans – I’m not the sort who thinks we need to be on our feet all game shouting “we hate pompey”, but I was shocked at how flat the atmosphere was today. I think OWTS only rang out once all game, and even when had an attack, or felt a sense of injustice at going down to 10, there was nothing more than a murmur. It’s like there is a huge sense of entitlement to see the team win, and no sense of responsibility to help the team achieve it…

Edited 5 March, 2016 by mrfahaji

[Saint Billy]

This time two years ago, after 29 matches, before this howwible howwible erosion started, we were 9th. But with a whole point more than we have now. A whole point. The erosion, oh the erosion, has been chronic since then, it really has been. We'll never be ninth after 29 games again, that's for sure. Such erosion. Such terrible, terrible erosion.

 

How about your thoughts on how things are atm instead of picking holes in everyone else's opinions.

[Chez]

Forster - got very lucky with a looping cross shot he just squeezed over the bar. Incredibly heavy footed. Thought he could have helped the defence by coming off his line a coupe of times. Seems reluctant to do that. No blame for goal.

Bertand - kind of a shame he has been moved out to left back as looked so good in the middle, but played well, especially in the first half when he was our best attacking player.

Fonte - had a poor game even before the red card. He looked sluggish in the first half, he rescued his own poor touch that could have seen Borini in. A little unlucky with the play leading to the red, Martina didn't help him and then he was a little Slow to react.

VVD - surges forward are great and defensively looked sound. Great finish. Fontes lack of pace can be his undoing as he tries to do two jobs.

Martina - for someone that hasn't played much, he settled in well. First touch decent and pretty solid. Pressed forward. Thought he was slightly at fault for Fonte red, but no where near as bad as people make out. Not sure he offers quite enough class going forward though.

Classie - game went on around him a little. Sunderland hardly have much in that part of the pitch but he didn't dominate. We need more from a CM.

Romeu - he reminds me of Jimmy case, but much fitter. Gets and gives and runs up and down all day. Best player on the park for me.

Davies - I like him and I know what he offers, but what he doesn't offer is that little bit threat in the final third and today showed that up a lot. Finds space brilliantly, but he didn't cause Sunderland any problems

Tadic - check out the Rodwell volley chance and how he fails to track his man. Thats what he does badly. What he does well is keep the ball and create good chances. None of that today.

Mane - still miles off where he was at his best earlier in the season. Doesn't seem to know what his role is. Can't get the all under control and give the ball away too often. We seriously lack flair players.

Pelle - all round game much better, and he bright players into the game and was involved in our best attacking moments, but we need him to find that goal scoring touch. When the weather gets warmer...

 

Juanmi - no impact, again.

Joshua - had to to do better to stop the goal, although tricky as was in the bid so couldn't throw himself into a tackle. Others could have done more to prevent the goal but earlier season mistakes mean he will be lambasted.

Edited 5 March, 2016 by Chez

[Saint Fan CaM]

Ref was poor. Pelle was poor and most of their chances came because he carelessly gave away the ball - would rather have had the under-21 striker on in the 2nd half. Mane hardly interested until nearer the end. Our corners were dire. Their keeper made three world class saves to keep us out.

 

And today just showed what fickle fragile supporters we have walking out with less than 85 minutes gone, although I have to say I'm so pleased they missed a cracking end to the game and a just reward for Saints. Just hope they don't bother coming again - worst type of 'fan' IMHO.

[5string]

Well, having seen only [most of] the 2nd half, I was pleasantly surprised to get a point from the game as it looked like we were sinking badly. So, a 'good day' I suppose.

 

Looking at the bigger picture, it is a fairly disappointing result. We should be beating teams like Sunderland with a degree of comfort at home, like 2-0 or 3-0.

 

I thought our play was lacking energy, even though we clearly have the quality to win and retain possession and do something with it - several players seem disinterested at times, for some reason (Mane being the obvious one). I'll never understand that approach from any professional footballer. At least some individuals are giving it their all.

 

Anyway, other teams around us had relatively similar results, so no real damage done.

 

Onwards and upwards...

[OttawaSaint]

What a crock. There are no easy PL teams that's why people all around the world like watching the PL because games are general tough and close. It's no wonder half of SMS spends the whole game moaning and groaning when people just expect to rock up and win games easily. Sunderland are fighting for their PL life and were never going to be a push over. Yet we fought back from a goal down with ten men to salvage a point people should be happy with that.

 

Finally!

 

Too many on here acting like spoiled brats.